Lucknow, April 29 -- At least 20 red-crowned roofed turtles, a critically endangered species of reptiles, were released in the river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh after a gap of nearly three decades, state officials said on Sunday, adding the reintroduction move aimed at shaping future conservation actions for other endangered species. Popularly known as Bengal roof turtle, the species, Batagur kachuga, is endemic to India and is reported to be found in Bangladesh and Nepal. "We have relocated 20 turtles - 10 males and as many females - ranging between two and three years of age, and released them into the Ganga. Half of them were released upstream of the river, which is part of Haiderpur Wetland, while the other half in downstream, which is part of the Hastinapur wildlife sanctuary," Rajesh Kumar, the divisional forest officer (DFO), Meerut, said on Sunday. The turtle species is marked critically endangered in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) list and is one of the 50 species in the list of Asia's most-endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles. "In India, red-crowned roofed turtles survive only in the river Chambal, with no evidence of their presence elsewhere in the world for the past 30 years. They were reportedly seen in Nepal and Bangladesh, but there is no concrete evidence," Arunima Singh of the India Turtle Conservation Programme said. "This became the first such reintroduction exercise in India for the red-crowned roofed turtle." The reintroduction exercise was jointly undertaken by the Centre's Namami Gange initiative, the forest department of Uttar Pradesh, and the India Turtle Conservation Programme. All relocated turtles have sonic transmitters attached to their shells, officials said, adding the proposed study [to be conducted with the help of transmitters] will provide critical insights into reintroduction strategies and help in shaping similar future conservation actions for other endangered species. In Chambal, the population of red-crowned roofed turtles is estimated to be less than 300. The characteristic features of the red-crowned roofed turtles are their shells, which could get as long as 56 cm and weigh up to 25 kg. The male turtles are shorter in comparison to the females. An adult female lays anywhere between 11 and 30 eggs during the months of March and April....